Gaudet, Louis

Information on this family was compiled from a variety of sources and submitted by Jana Webre

In 1760, Louis Gaudet and his family were living at Petit Rochelle, Restigouche. They are listed as prisoners of Fort Cumberland in 1763. In 1766, they were at Miquelon (St-Pierre et Miquelon).

They are listed in the 1767 census of Miquelon. They were exiled to France in November of 1767 and disembarked at La Rochelle, France, on 9 November 1767.

In 1785, Spain paid for 7 ships to transport Acadians to settle in Louisiana. For Spain, it meant settlers to buffer the zone between Spanish and British territory. For the Acadians, it meant a chance to join their fellow Acadians and to regain some of what they lost during the Exile.

In 1785, Louis Gaudet arrived in Louisiana on the "Caroline," with his wife and children: François-Louis, aged 12; Madeleine, aged 28; and Marguerite 20. The "Caroline" was a 200 ton ship under the command of Captain Nicolas Baudin. It left France on October 19, 1785 and made the crossing in 64 days. After the 28 families (80 people) were disembarked in Louisiana, then the ship took on a load of wood and headed back to Nantes, France.

Louis Gaudet and his wife, Marie Hébert, ages 61 and 58, were listed on the 1789 census of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, owning 12 arpents of land on the left bank of the river, 150 quarts of corn, 2 head of cattle, 2 horses, and 20 hogs.

Section 55, land granted to Louis Gaudet, was bound on the northwest by that of François-Louis Gaudet, Sr., his son, and was bounded on the southwest by that of Bellony Babin, in front by Bayou Lafourche, and in the rear by section 90, belonging to his son, the above François-Louis. Louis opened the succession of his wife, Marie Hébert, on 1 August 1801, after her death. For appraisal of the property, two appraisers were appointed by the Spanish Commandant, Thomas de Villenueva Barroso. By this time, Louis had bought two more parcels of land, sections 53 and 54, from Girod and Jean-Baptiste Bourgeois. The appraisers were Julien Blanchard and Joseph Breaux. Louis kept the property, while all the movables were sold to settle with his children. All his children were present except Marie (1755-1816), who was then in Nantes, France. The total amount of the succession amounted to 3,613 pesos and 5 reales, which was held by Louis Gaudet until his death in 1803. His succession written in Spanish, contains mention of slaves from the Congo. One "was a wild woman when bought, a thief but a good worker." There was a pirogue 37 feet long with rudder.

His home was 25 X 16 feet. with a porch on three sides, built on wooden blocks, a kitchen built on posts in the ground 20 square feet, a store house of the same size, with two negro cabins and 3000 fence posts. The same year he died, he had built a sugar mill on Dove Martinez's property for grinding his sugar cane. The last run was made in 1908.